Hat-Trick: Shieldshock Edition
by Rhiannon A. Christy
Summary: Five unconnected oneshots featuring Steve Rogers and Darcy Lewis. Various ratings. 1:The Intern Wife.2.Tear Stained Ink.
1. The Intern Wife

Hat-Trick: ShieldShock #1

Song: Look At Us Now ~ Sarina Paris

Genre: Romance

Spoiler Alert: Bit of Civil War

Rating: T

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As start of relationship stories go, Darcy figured she had one of the strangest. Her "meet cute" did not include smashing into her future husband's chest and spilling coffee on him, or getting trapped in an elevator. Sure, her story was not as wild as Jane's, but it was truly unconventional.

As Jane had moved on to marry her alien prince, Darcy had been left with her intern wondering what she was going to do with her life. Her friend and boss hadn't dumped her, but being the new princess of an alien realm left little time for anything else.

It hadn't taken long for Darcy's relationship with Ian to fail. The boy had very little experience with weird, something that Darcy had become quite knowledgeable in if she did say so. Also, maybe just a little bit addicted to. This addiction led her to seeking out powered people and offering her services as Intern Extraordinaire. It also meant that she was around a lot of crazy shit. Ian had taken it all in stride, for a time at least. The last straw had come when Darcy was the intern to a certain red garbed hero/anti-hero, whatever. There was only so much weirdness and blood that he could take.

After the end of her relationship Darcy had gone on a few dates, but having a social life when one was in her line of work was difficult. Maybe that was why when she had been introduced to Rogers by one of her bosses she had jumped at the chance to work with him.

At the time she had been working for The Black Widow; which was still a point of pride for her. Nat had explained to her that a friend of hers had need of her services. Of course Darcy had been interested. Though she had expected to be shipped off to take care of some master assassin; bring them coffee, make their lunch, clean their weapons and shit, clean the blood off their gear… the same type of things she did for Nat. What she hadn't expected was to find freaking Captain America locked away in some cabin. Well, Steve Rogers, as he more than once insisted that he no longer carried the shield.

Now, Rogers had been off the radar since he had freed the other ex-Avengers after that nasty little civil war thing they had. No one seemed to know what had happened to him. Some said he had gone off with Barnes to do whatever it was that two WWII soldiers did. Others that he had been working behind the scenes in the government, that the split of the Avengers had been a ploy to look weak when they were really working together. In reality he had been locked away in the middle of nowhere working behind the scenes, not with the government, but with his fellow ex-Avengers to slowly take down Hydra.

When Darcy had shown up things had finally fallen into place for the next phase of their plan. Which so happened needed Steve to once again make an appearance. Only no one could suspect what he had really been working on all those years. Thus the reason why Nat had sent Darcy.

Darcy was no stranger to the odd cheesy romance… alright, so she owned an entire personal library filled with them. Still, she had never expected that she would end up in one. Steve had outlined the plan perfectly, and in detail. It had to appear that he had left the public eye for reasons other than the truth. The plan that they had all settled on, the one that they thought was the best option entailed Darcy and Steve marrying.

The cover story was a simple one. Steve had been injured after his battle with Iron Man, and he had slunk away to lick his wounds. Only he had met Darcy, the quirky young woman who had followed Thor around. She had taken him in and helped him recover while keeping his location secret. During that time the two fell in love and secretly married. Steve, still wanted, decided that he just wanted a normal life and so the two hid themselves away from the world. This was easy enough, as Darcy had done well to keep herself out of the limelight with her past interns. It was the reason she had become so popular to hire. She was discrete and could work behind the scenes without anyone ever suspecting who she was working for.

Executing the plan had not been difficult, but it had been long. There had to be some sort of proof that a marriage had taken place…. so that meant one did. The entire thing had been staged, from the dress to the cake. Pictures taken, the license written up and set up as public record. Everything made official as though it had happened years ago. The cabin had been filled with pictures of them, taken over the course of two months to create the scene of a proper marriage.

Darcy had laughed back then. Proper marriage had been a joke. They had taken to living together several months before going public, doing everything as a married couple. Well, almost everything. They still slept in separate rooms. That was one line that neither of them planned to cross. It was a job, Steve was her boss and Darcy was his intern… intern wife, or whatever.

There wouldn't have been a problem had they allowed things to remain professional, but they allowed their feelings to get in the way. It hadn't been suppressed sexual desire, or unspoken love. It had been hatred and annoyance. They couldn't stand each other. Everything Darcy did pissed him off. From the way she cooked to her love of cat videos. Likewise, Darcy could barely handle being in the same room as Steve. She thought him to be cold, hard, and way too depressing. Nat had told her stories about how much of a troll the man really was, how he loved to take the piss out of ya just to see the look on your face. Darcy just couldn't see it. He never joked or cracked a smile, not once.

Darcy despaired for the plan, how could they pass off for a loving couple who just wanted to be left alone in their love if all they ever did was fight? Maybe that had been one of the big problems for Darcy. When they had finally gone public she had seen a side to him that made her sick. At home he was just as cold, just as straight faced as always. Once in public he plastered a bright smile on his face, called her "Doll" and always had her wrapped up in his arms. He played the part of the loving husband perfectly. So much so that the world ate it up.

The media was filled with stories of how they met. They dubbed her his Angel, and no one seemed to be able to get their fill. A picture taken while they had been out to lunch had gone viral. What the world didn't realize was that the whole thing had been staged. Their location had been "leaked," by one of their contacts. Nat had chosen their clothes, directed them on what they were supposed to do. The only thing was Steve sometimes had the habit of adlibbing it. They were supposed to have been having lunch, holding hands and looking lovingly, and revoltingly into each other's eyes. At some point Steve started to feed her small bites of his meal, leaning over to wipe away a bit of sauce on the corner of her mouth. The Photo, and yes it should be capitalized, was taken when they were leaving. Steve had stood, helped her into her jacket, cupped her face and kissed her. Full on kiss, open mouths and tongue… Darcy wanted to bite him.

Life changed after that. Darcy found herself having problems. Problems that involved her not hating her husband. In fact she down right fell in love with him. It was something that pissed her off, and apparently she wasn't the only one. The whole thing turned out to be ridiculous and something straight out of one of the aforementioned cheesy romance novels.

Unknown to each other they fell in love, and both came to the same conclusion that they should stay silent about it. Nothing was spoken of it until their marriage was no longer needed. The plan had worked, Steve was able to help his fellow ex-Avengers take down Hydra once and for all…. Hopefully. When all was said and done they were supposed to quietly drift apart and move on with their lives. That lasted all but two months. Two lonely months where Darcy had tried to go back to her old apartment; or new apartment as she had been gone three fucking years.

The days were filled with Netflix, food, and ignoring messages on social media asking her why she broke the Cap's heart. Life was good… not. Darcy had resigned herself to returning to her old life. She had planned on finding some new boss, perhaps Clint and his wife needed a babysitter. She had been about to pick up the phone to call the man when a loud knock had sounded through her apartment.

She had not been expecting to ever see Steve again, so when she opened the door to find him standing there looking like a drowned rat she might have squealed. Though to this day she denies it. She had invited him in, and after several hours talking they ended up in bed. And the rest, is as they say, history…

Literally history, it is actually in kids damned text books. Darcy and Steve "renewed" their vows on their five-year anniversary. Through the years they fought, but nothing ever made them walk away. Several kids, grandkids, and one great-grandkid later, the two remained in love. Even though Steve still didn't understand the cat videos.

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Author's Note: Oh, it has been almost a year since I've done any Hat-trick. So here is the first for Shieldshock, and of course I had to do this troupe. Who doesn't love fake marriage. Maybe one day I will actually do a full on chaptered story with this troupe.

And for those wondering. Bucky was woken up, and of course he had to make fun of Steve for being a stupid idiot where Darcy was concerned and taking so long. He also was the godfather for all their children, and loved to scare them into being good by removing his fake arm when they were doing wrong.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


	2. Tear Stained Ink

Hat-Trick: ShieldShock #2

Song: The Beaches of Cheyenne ~ Garth Brooks

Genre: Tragedy

Spoiler Alert: Nope

Rating: T

* * *

 **!Warning!**

 **Tissue Warning**

 **Plus mentions of suicide**

* * *

Tear Stained Ink

* * *

Tony stood in the middle of the room, eyes tracing over every inch of the apartment. Pepper was curled up on the floor, carefully packing up boxes of books and figurines. What was left intact at least. He sighed, he would have to bring in a group to fix the windows and broken door.

He felt his chest constrict in grief at the loss of two friends.

There had been a mission, there was always a mission. Steve had promised Darcy that he would take it easy, she had almost lost him once and he swore that she would never go through that again. He had lied. Tony had been with him when he had called her, told her that he would be gone another month.

The screaming through the phone had been enough to drive Tony from the room. For an hour they yelled, an argument that ended with Steve crushing his phone. They left not long after, Steve quietly fuming. The mission had begun like normal, but things quickly turned and the last thing that Tony remembered was Steve being shot between the eyes.

He had woken up a week later in the medical rooms of the Tower to the tear stained face of Pepper. She told him of Steve's death and how Shield had sent some rookie to tell his wife. From what people said she had gone crazy, screaming and throwing everything within reach. The rookie had left without making sure she would be safe.

Neighbors spoke of how she rushed from her apartment, screaming for Steve. She had been seen heading for the river, and no one had been able to stop her.

The police said the currents must have taken her, the chance of finding her was slim. Tony had all his resources combing that river, but with each day his hope grew a little less.

Pepper sobbed from her spot, her fingers tracing over a passage in a book. She kneeled beside her and read what had broken her quiet. There in Darcy's handwriting was an account of the argument they had had. And there in tear stained ink was the last thing she had told him…

"If you go, I don't care if you ever return."

* * *

Author's Note: So, this one is short. Mainly because I really don't feel like dragging this one out. Also, you will notice this is pretty much the song's storyline… this is why story songs are harder to write to.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


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